Truly free checking accounts are becoming rarer as banks add more fees to boost their profits. Among other fees, the average monthly service fee on checking accounts is a record $5.48, up 25 percent from the Bankrate survey a year ago.

According to Bankrate.com's latest Financial Security Index, consumers' feelings about their money and job situations reached a new level of despair for 2011 in early August, with the index hitting a low of 92.3, down from 95.6 the month before.

Next week will bring Wall Street headlines about retail earnings and newly public Chinese firms, as well as quarterly reports from News Corp., SodaStream, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive.